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The Heiress He Shouldn’t Have Betrayed
Novelix
Completed
The day after Emma Carter marries Ethan Foster, she brings her marriage certificate to work—only to be humiliated as a fraud when Ethan introduces another woman as his real wife. Cast out, framed, and nearly forced to sign away her family’s patents, Emma calls her father and begins to take back everything Ethan stole. But the betrayal runs deeper than bigamy. Ethan’s identity is fake, his dead brother may not be dead in the way everyone believes, and Emma’s late mother left behind evidence of a murder. To survive, Emma must expose the Foster family’s darkest secrets before they bury her too.
Chapters (3)
第1章
The day after my wedding, I brought my marriage certificate to the office to file for leave.
The HR manager took one look and her face changed.
"This document is fake, isn't it?" She lowered her voice, but loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. "Mr. Foster got married a year ago. Mrs. Foster's maiden name is Hayes. How could it possibly be you?"
The office went silent for half a second, then erupted in laughter.
"Mrs. Foster, she says. Maybe take a look in the mirror first."
My face burned. I clutched the document and was about to explain when the elevator doors opened.
My husband, Ethan Foster, stepped out with a woman on his arm.
She wore a white skirt suit, her hand looped through the crook of his elbow.
Ethan stood before everyone, his tone warm and easy. "I'd like to introduce my wife, Lily Hayes. She's officially joining the company today. I hope you'll all make her feel welcome."
Lily raised her hand in a little wave.
On her ring finger sat a wedding band identical to mine.
My head filled with a deafening buzz.
"Ethan, who is she?"
Lily gave me a passing glance. "Do you honestly not know what you are?"
She turned to the security guards, her voice quiet but dripping with casual contempt. "Please escort this woman out."
I stared at Ethan in disbelief.
Yesterday, at our wedding, he'd held my hand and sworn he would never let me down for the rest of his life.
Now, all he did was frown.
"Emma, you forged documents just to attach yourself to the Foster name." He looked at the HR manager. "Effective today, she no longer works here."
The laughter around me grew louder.
Someone called me crazy. Someone called me shameless. Others already had their phones out, recording.
As security dragged me through the front doors, a message from Ethan lit up my screen.
"Lily is the real Mrs. Foster. As long as you don't make a scene in front of her, come home tonight and I'll make it up to you."
I stared at those words, and a laugh escaped my throat.
Then I called my father.
"Dad, Ethan Foster publicly humiliated me. Called me the other woman."
"I want them to pay for this."
After I hung up, I stayed at a hotel until dark before going back to the apartment to pack my things.
I pressed my fingerprint to the lock three times. Each time, it denied me access.
This penthouse was a wedding gift from my father. Just yesterday, after the ceremony, Ethan had held my hand while I registered my fingerprint. He told me this would always be our home.
One night. That was all it took for me to be locked out of my own door.
I was about to call building management when the door swung open.
Ethan's mother, Margaret, stood in the doorway with a cold expression and kicked my suitcase to my feet.
"What are you doing back here?"
The latches had been forced open. Clothes spilled across the floor.
I was so angry I laughed. "This is my house. Move."
Margaret scoffed. "The deed is in my son's name. What does it have to do with you?"
My fingers clenched tight.
The apartment was bought outright by my father. Back then, Ethan had said he wanted his mother to feel secure, so I agreed to put his name on the title for the time being.
So even then, he'd already planned for today.
"Mom, who is it?"
Lily walked out from inside.
She was wearing one of Ethan's shirts. On her wrist was my mother's jade bracelet.
Yesterday, after the wedding, Margaret had said she wanted to take it to a jeweler to check the sizing. She'd removed it from my wrist herself. Now it was on Lily's.
I pushed past Margaret and walked straight in.
"Give me back that bracelet."
Lily raised her wrist and dangled it in front of my face. "A Foster family heirloom belongs with the real Mrs. Foster."
"That was my mother's. She left it to me."
I reached for it, but she let out a sudden shriek and threw herself to the ground.
Ethan came rushing out of the bedroom and pulled her into his arms.
"Emma, what the hell is wrong with you?"
Lily's eyes glistened red. One hand drifted to her lower belly. "Ethan, don't blame her. She only found out yesterday that she's the other woman. It's normal that she can't accept it."
The other woman?
I looked at Ethan. "You said you'd explain tonight."
Ethan gently helped Lily to her feet. "Lily is pregnant. Don't upset her."
A roaring filled my ears.
"How far along?"
Lily stroked her belly and smiled at me. "Two months."
Two months ago, Ethan had been on his knees in front of my father, begging for my hand.
He'd said that if he ever betrayed me, he deserved to lose everything.
It was all a lie.
I raised my hand to slap him, but Margaret grabbed my wrist and held it down.
"You dare hit my son?"
She slapped me across the face.
"Lily is carrying the Foster heir. What could you possibly have to compete with that?"
My cheek burned with stinging heat.
I looked at Ethan.
He didn't stop her. He just gave me a cold warning. "If you're done making a scene, leave. As long as you stay away from Lily, I'll set you up in an apartment somewhere and give you a monthly allowance."
I laughed in disbelief, stepped around them, and went straight for the study.
Inside the safe, I found the authorization documents for my mother's three patents.
The three-year licensing agreement had been changed to a permanent, royalty-free authorization. Underneath it was a share transfer agreement. Once Foster Industries went public, my shares in Carter Group would all transfer to Ethan's name.
I flipped to the signature page and went cold all over.
The signature was a perfect copy of mine.
But the date was three months ago.
That day, I had been overseas.
"These are forged."
I immediately pulled out my phone and started taking photos.
I'd only gotten two pages when a hand reached from behind and snatched the documents away.
Ethan shoved the papers back into the safe and slammed it shut.
"Who said you could go through my things?"
I stared at him. "Forged contracts. Stealing Carter family shares. That five million wired to the company account—you put that in my name to frame me for leaking trade secrets, didn't you?"
Ethan went still.
I turned to leave. "I'm calling the police."
The color drained from his face.
The next second, he grabbed a fistful of my hair and dragged me back into the study. He ripped the phone from my hand and smashed it against the floor. The screen shattered on impact.
"Emma, I gave you a chance."
"Since you won't behave, you're not leaving this room tonight."
第2章
Ethan pinned my wrist and pressed me against the desk.
"Unlock the phone."
"In your dreams."
He pried my fingers open and forced my thumb onto the sensor. Then, with practiced ease, he logged into my cloud account and deleted the photos permanently.
My heart sank, inch by inch.
"You've been monitoring my account this whole time?"
"What did you think?" Ethan tossed the phone to the floor. "You think I spent three years dating you because I actually liked you?"
He leaned over me, his voice cold and unfamiliar.
"If the Carter family didn't still have some value, you wouldn't even be worth my time."
I stared at him.
Three years ago, Foster Industries was on the verge of bankruptcy. It was my father who quietly arranged investors for him. It was my mother's patents that landed Foster Industries contracts worth billions.
Ethan had always assumed my father was just a minor shareholder at Carter Group, someone without real influence.
Because I wanted a relationship built on something real, I'd never told him that the true power behind Carter Group was my father.
Now that he'd used the Carter family to secure his footing, he had the nerve to say we weren't good enough.
Lily walked into the study and dropped a confession statement in front of me.
"Just sign it."
I looked down.
Admit to leaking the company's bid price. Admit to forging marriage documents and harassing Ethan and his wife. Voluntarily relinquish all three patents and all Carter Group shares.
I tore the document to pieces.
Lily's expression darkened.
The next second, she grabbed my hand and smacked it hard against her own face.
The slap echoed through the room.
She clutched her cheek and collapsed into Ethan's arms.
"Ethan, I was only trying to talk to her..."
Ethan's face turned to ice. He backhanded me across the face.
The force sent me crashing into the edge of the desk. Pain shot through my lower back.
"Apologize to Lily."
I gripped the edge of the desk to steady myself, then swung my hand and slapped him right back.
"That's for the sham marriage."
Another slap landed.
"And that's for biting the hand that fed you."
Ethan's head snapped to the side.
Margaret screamed and lunged at me, grabbing my hair. "You psycho! How dare you hit my son!"
I caught her wrist and was about to wrench free when Lily suddenly clutched her belly and shrieked.
"My baby!"
"Emma, why won't you even spare the child?"
She crumpled to the floor. A red stain was already spreading beneath the hem of her skirt.
Margaret went white with panic. "Lily's bleeding!"
Ethan shoved me aside, scooped Lily into his arms, and rushed toward the bedroom.
As he passed me, his eyes burned with enough hatred to tear me apart.
"If anything happens to that baby, I'll make you pay with your life."
Lily clung to his chest, and over his shoulder, she shot me a look of pure triumph.
As she lowered her head, I caught a scent—the sweet, fermented tang of red wine.
I stepped into their path.
"She's not having a miscarriage. Lift her skirt and look. That's wine."
Lily's face went white.
Ethan kicked the back of my knee.
I dropped hard to the floor.
"You're still trying to slander Lily?" He towered over me, his voice like iron. "If anything happens to her or the baby, it's on your head."
He looked at Margaret. "Mom, keep her here. Don't let her call the police."
With that, he carried Lily into the bedroom.
Less than two minutes later, Lily's soft, wounded sobs drifted through the door.
"Ethan, I don't want to see her anymore. As long as she's here, I'm terrified something will happen to our baby."
Margaret marched to the kitchen and came back with a roll of packing tape. She wound it tight around my wrists.
She grabbed my hair and forced my head up.
"Lily is being merciful. Sign the papers and get out, and she'll let you walk away in one piece. Otherwise, that five million in leaked secrets is enough to put you behind bars for ten years."
I stared at her. "You know exactly who transferred that money."
Margaret smiled. "Of course we do. Your father took it."
She threw a bank statement in my face.
The name on the receiving account was my father's.
Before I could respond, the front door swung open.
Several Foster Industries board members, the company's legal counsel, and wedding guests filed in one after another.
They all looked down at me, kneeling on the floor, their faces full of contempt.
The head of legal held up his phone. "We have all the evidence that Emma Carter stole company secrets and conspired with her father to accept five million in bribes. Mr. Foster says he'll deal with her here tonight, in front of everyone."
第3章
The living room filled up quickly.
Ethan emerged from the bedroom in a fresh suit, Lily on his arm.
There wasn't a trace of pallor on her face, but she clutched a prenatal exam report that had materialized from God knows where.
"The doctor says the baby is fine for now." She nestled against Ethan's chest, tears falling on command. "But I really can't have Miss Carter at the company anymore."
The board members turned on me immediately.
"Stealing trade secrets and assaulting a pregnant woman. Absolutely outrageous."
"Mr. Foster showed her mercy by not calling the police. She should be grateful."
"A woman like that deserves to be blacklisted. Make sure she never works again."
I knelt on the floor, the tape cutting into my wrists until they turned purple.
"There's no name on that exam report. No date either. Are you actually pregnant? Do you have the guts to go to a hospital right now and prove it?"
Lily's crying hitched.
Margaret snatched a glass from the table and flung its contents at my face.
Ice-cold liquor ran down my chin.
"Who are you to question a Foster heir?" She jabbed a finger at my nose and screamed. "You—a woman who used her body to seduce my son—you dare accuse Lily?"
The guests joined in with laughter.
"No wonder Mr. Foster won't claim her."
"Shows up with fake documents to get marriage leave, gets caught, then steals company secrets for revenge."
"Just throw this lunatic in prison already."
I looked at Ethan.
"Ethan, everything you have today, you owe to my father. Don't say I didn't warn you."
He looked away. Something flickered in his eyes—a flash of panic.
Lily immediately charged at me and grabbed my collar. "You're still trying to seduce my husband?"
In the scuffle, I caught a glimpse of something under the sofa—a boarding pass.
I read the date, and my body went rigid.
"You used my passport to fly back into the country. You signed those contracts pretending to be me. Airport surveillance and seat records can all be traced. Lily, you're finished."
The words had barely left my mouth when I snatched the boarding pass.
Her face went ashen. She lunged to grab it.
Ethan was faster.
He seized my wrist, pried the boarding pass loose, tore it to shreds, and tossed the pieces into the trash.
"You think a scrap of paper is enough to frame Lily?"
I dove for the trash, but a bodyguard slammed into me and knocked me to the floor.
Lily planted her foot on my hand.
The stiletto heel ground into the bones of my fingers. The pain was blinding.
She bent down, her face close to mine, and whispered with a smile. "Your passport, your signature, your fingerprints—we have all of them. After tonight, the Carter patents, the shares, everything your father holds—it will all belong to Foster."
I jerked my head up.
"What have you done to my father?"
She straightened up, still smiling.
Ethan held his phone in front of my face.
On the screen, my father's car lay crushed on the roadside. He was nowhere to be seen.
"Your father had a little accident on his way to collect evidence from the marriage registry."
Ethan looked down at me.
"Now, no one can save you."